HINDUISM
Mythology as part of Religion
K.S. Sivakumaran
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This week let us glean some mythological aspects in Hinduism, as
Culture includes mythology and anthropology, and they are related to
Religion too. European scholars like Max Muller, Weber, Roth and Lassen
were some of the pioneers in introducing Hindu Mythology and Literature
to the westerners in English. However, their interpretations were not
totally comprehensive. More than 15 years ago John Dowson compiled a
Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion among other related
subjects. We shall gather facts from time to time from this book too on
major mythical identities in Hinduism.
Shall we first take the myth about Agasthiyar, a Rishi? We are told
that he had written several hymns in the Rig Veda. He was born in a
water jar. ‘As a fish of great lustre’ He was small in size. There is a
fable to say that he commanded the Vundhya Mountains to prostrate
themselves before him. According to another fable he drank up the ocean
because it had offended him. One other tale tells us that he formed a
girl out of the most graceful parts of different animals and the girl
became his wife. Her name was Lopaamudraa.
If that was the myth regarding Agasthiyar in the north of India, in
the south he finds a prominent place in Thamil literature. He was the
first to teach science and literature to the Thamilians. According to
one Wilson The traditions of the south of India ascribe to Agasthiyar a
principal share in the formation of the Thamil language and literature,
and the general tenor of the legends relating to him denotes his having
been instrumental in the introduction of the Hindu religion and
literature into the Peninsula.
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Kochchikade Sivan Temple:
Festival begins tomorrow
Chelvathamby Maniccavasagar traces the
historical importance of the ancient Hindu temple in Colombo.
The annual festival of Sri Ponnambalavaneswarar Temple at Kochchikade,
Colombo13 will commence with the flag hoisting ceremony tomorrow (March
20).
Sri Ponnambalavaneswarar Temple was built in 1857 by Sri Ponnambala
Mudaliyar, the father of great patriot Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan. In
1850 Sri Ponnambala Mudaliyar went as a pilgrimage to South India and
visited several Hindu Temple particularly Rameswara Temple believed to
have been Rama of Ramayana fame.
Historically important Temple festival at Kochikadae begins
Saturday |
As his arrival from the pilgrimage to India the Mudaliyas thought of
the need of a Shivan Temple in the heart of the city of Colombo and
built this temple at Kochchikade in 1857. In fact, the Kumbabishekam was
performed according to Agamic tradition.
The administration of this temple which was carried out by Sir
Ponnambala Mudaliyas to the greatest satisfaction of the devotees in the
city of Colombo and outstations, was handed over to Sir Ponnambalam
Ramanathan in 1905.
Thereafter, Sir P. Ramanathan made a pilgrimage to India and saw the
magnificent temples in South India and according to the Agamic tradition
and the Dravidian Style of Architecture he built this temple with
granite. For this purpose of rebuilding this temple he brought eminent
architects and sculptors from South India and the work which started in
1907 was completed in 1915.
In this temple the floor, wall, pillars and the roof are made out of
granite. The Moolasthanam (main sanctum) is decorated with intricately
carved single stone columns stands majestically an either side flanking
hall and also granite beams for the roof to allow the light to come in.
The main entrance of the temple is tastefully decorated. The
beautiful chariot which carry the deities on the annual festival could
be seen in the specially erected room just opposite of the main entrance
of the temple.
God is in our hearts like the lantern in the hand. If only the
control our senses and our hearts and tread the path of virtue and
devotion to the supreme being we need nothing else. If we are ever in
doubt and without faith, like a vessel without captain, we shall be
tossed on the turbulent waters of life buffeted by the winds of fate and
circumstances, unable to stand the stresses and strains, hope deferred
and desire unfulfilled. If we seek God’s grace, we shall always succeed
in keeping our senses in check.
One of the cardinal principles of Hinduism is the belief that there
is a spark of the DIVINE in every person. Each individual encapsulates
the ATMAN or the SOUL which is intrinsically DIVINE.
”You and I are one because we are of the same divine source”, the
Upanishadic teaching.
If one accepts this cardinal principle, then there cannot be any
distinction on the basis of caste, creed, gender or language. Equality
of persons in ensured by this spiritual bond. Further, Hinduism is
unique in the sense that it accepts that there are various paths to
salvation.
The Upanishad states “As the different streams having their sources
in different places, all mingle their water in the sea. The different
paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they
appear, crooked or straight, all lead to THEE”.
In the tradition of Hindu literature the chariot represents our body
which is yoked to four horses (the sense organs) wherein the individual
sits, dejected and dependent driven by the intellect which, into the
mind guide the horses.
These horses represent human passions and the reins symbolise the
necessity of restraining and guiding the passions. The journey of the
chariot is an emblem of the progress of life and the lesson is that
throughout his life, one should control and guide the passions with the
help of the soul. These passions are the driving force of life but
unstrained and unguided will wreck a man’s life.
Indeed, during the chariot festival the statues of Lord Shiva, Lord
Ganesha, Goddess Ambal, God Muruga are decorated and illuminated and
taken along the compound of the temple followed by poojas and bhajans.
Hence, let us pray to Sri Ponnambalawaneswarar and receive His divine
blesssings.
Temple festival after 20 years
Maha Sivarathri after 20 years at Thiruketheeswaram temple,
Mannar |
Hindu devotees from all parts of the country participated in a Maha
Sivarathri pooja held at the Thiruketheeswaram Kovil in Mannar on March
13.
Northern Province Governor Maj. Gen. G.A. Chandrasiri, Resettlement
and Disaster Relief Services Minister Risath Bathiyutheen, Indian High
Commissioner Ashok Kantha and security chiefs in the North were also
present on the occasion. This ceremony was held at the kovil after a
lapse of 20 years. - (Picture by Bandara Vipulasena Vavuniya Central
special corr.)
Folk Deities III:
The Chairman Swamy
Thilaka T. Wijeratnam
In a small village by the river Thamivaparani lived a good man called
Arunasalam.
Once when he was bathing in the river, a mischievous girl, one who
was betrothed to him sent a small girl to take his veshti-cloth.
When Arunasalam came out he saw his veshti missing. He started
walking to his house in the loincloth.
On the way he met a textile merchant. He put down the bundle and took
a new veshti, gave it to him and left without even getting the money.
The betrethed girl was watching this scene and was amazed beyond
wards. The little girl who took his veshti took it to her mother and
told her what happened.
The mother was horrified at it, and went to Arunasalam’s and begged
forgiveness.
He told her he should be worried only if the work veshti was in a
condition to be worn.
When the lady spread out the veshti it was all worn out and torn.
People considered Arunasalam as a demi-god an revered and respected
him. He seemed to have performed some mystic, miraculous deeds too.
Having heard of him, the collector equivalent the (G.A. In Sri Lanka)
made him the village chief. Later he made him the chairman of the
village Panjayath rural court. But he lived the life of a recluse while
functioning as chairman.
In the village was a woman by the name of Sudalai Pe’chi. She had an
unusual affliction.
There were swollen patches here and there on the skin. In disgust her
husband left her. She went crying to the Chairman Arunasalam.
He gave her holy ash, chanting a mantra and some holy water and told
her to see him on the new moon day.
In the meantime Arunasalam called his friend Bala Krishnamoorthy and
told him he would depart this world on new moon day. He instructed his
friend to dig a pit beside the banyan tree on the bank of the river and
bury him in silting position.
At that time, he told, there would be an eagle circling in the sky.”
On its third round, its shadow would fall on me. Then bury me.”
The whole village got to know of his death and awaited the new moon
day with a heavy heart. Came new moon day the chairman did his duties as
usual then went home and lay down in his bed. Sharp at mid noon 12
o’clock, he breathed his last, as he said.
His friend and others dug a pit at the spot he mentioned and lowered
his body into the pit, in a sitting position as he had instructed.
Then they saw to their wonder the eagle circling above.
On the third round its shadow fell on the Swamy ‘c body.
The people threw sand into the pit and filled it thus burying him.
Meanwhile the woman who went to him with the ailment, came crying
saying. “He told me to come on new moon day. But he is not alive to see
me.
Just then an old man came that way. He told her to visit the burial
place for two new moons, “take the soil over his grave and apply to your
body. Drink the holy water. You will be cured.”
She did likewise and was cured. Her skin was smooth and she regained
her lost beauty and health. Moreover her husband took her back
There is a temple for this chairman swamy. People suffering from any
disease visit the temple and used the soil there as medicine for any
ailment.
So chairman swamy in another folk deity come to stay in Thamilnadu.
(Courtesy Kalki) Source Kalaniboran
A Formless eternal and mysterious being
Saiva tradition identifies Lord Siva or Shiva as a formless eternal
and mysterious being with many aspects and dimensions.
He is both transcendental and immanent, who cannot be quantified and
qualified objectively with our limited awareness.
He is beyond our mind and senses, but within the reach of our
experience and awakening. Various schools of Saivisma or Shaivism and
the scriptures that form their basis allude to some important aspects of
Siva, as experienced by the awakened jivas in their transcendental
states, which are mentioned below.
* Siva as nirguna Brahman
*Siva as saguna Brahman
*Siva as lord of a functional universe
*Siva as dynamic power
*Siva as a deluded soul
*Siva as an enlightened and self-aware soul
*Siva as a Vedic deity
Internet: Saivaism Jairam
Shaiva Siddhanta
Shiva, Lord of the Dance (Nataraja):
Saiva Siddhantam (also Shaiva Siddhantam) is a Saivite Hindu school
that encompasses tens of millions of adherents, predominantly in Tamil
Nadu and Sri Lanka. Today it has thousands of active temples there and
dozens of monastic/ascetic traditions: twenty-five Brahmin families, the
Adisaivas, are qualified to perform its rituals.
The culmination of a long period of systematisation of its theology
appears to have taken place in Kashmir in the tenth century, the
exegetical works of the Kashmirian authors Bhatta Narayanakantha and
Bhatta Ramakantha being the most sophisticated expressions of this
school of thought.[1] Their works were quoted and emulated in the works
of twelfth-century South Indian authors, such as Aghorasiva and
Trilocanasiva.[2] The theology they expound is based on a canon of
Tantric scriptures called Siddhantatantras or Shaiva Agamas.
This canon is traditionally held to contain twenty-eight scriptures,
but the lists vary,[3] and several doctrinally significant scriptures,
such as the Mrgendra,[4] are not listed. In the systematisation of the
liturgy of the Shaiva Siddhanta, the Kashmirian thinkers appear to have
exercised less influence: the treatise that had the greatest impact on
Shaiva ritual, and indeed on ritual outside the Shaiva sectarian domain,
for we find traces of it in such works as the Agnipurana, is a ritual
manual composed in North India in the late eleventh century by a certain
Somasambhu.[5] After the twelfth century, North Indian evidence for the
presence of the Shaiva Siddhanta grows rarer.
The school appears to have died out in other parts of India even as
it grew in importance in the Tamil-speaking south. There its original
emphasis on ritual fused with an intense devotional (bhakti) tradition.
The Tamil compendium of devotional songs known as Tirumurai, along with
the Vedas, the Shaiva Agamas and “Meykanda” or “Siddhanta” Sastras[6],
form the scriptural canon of Tamil Shaiva Siddhanta. Tirumurai is a
twelve-volume anthology of the works of few among sixty-three poets, the
Nayanars,[7][8],Manikkavacakar, Sekkizhar and Others.The Meykanda
sastras are fourteen in number, authored by St. Meykandar and his
disciples.
Wickipedia
Three books launched today
The launching of two books published by the Hindu Religious and
Cultural Affairs Department will take place this morning (March 19,
2010) at 9.00 a.m. at the lecture hall of the Ramakrishna Mission at
Wellawatta.
The three books are Part X of the Hindu Encyclopedia and Thandi
Alankaram and Thirukaraip Puranam.
The Director of the Department Shanthi Naavukkarasan will chair the
function. Bandu Bandaranaike will grace the occasion.
A special guests M. M. Herath, Secretary to the Ministry of Religious
Affairs and Emeritus Professor S. Pathmanathan are invited.
The publication will be critically reviewed by Senior Lecturers K.
Iraghuparan and Dr. V. Maheswaran of the Departments of Thamil in the
Universities of South Eastern and Peradeniya respectively.
Swami Sarva Roopanandaji, Head of the Ramakrishna Mission in Colombo,
Kumaresan Purantharan M. Shanmuganathan, Thevakumari Haran, all from the
Hindu Cultural Affairs Department will also participated in the program
which will end by 11.00 a.m. |